


What They Have

by TheWalnutGallery



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: M/M, SaiOuMota - Freeform, established saimota, ill kaito, kind of fluff, saioumotaweek2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 23:57:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15617868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWalnutGallery/pseuds/TheWalnutGallery
Summary: Saihara and Momota had a great and honest relationship. As if, no one is really completely open about themselves, and Ouma knows Momota's secret.Saioumota Week Day 4 - Jealousy





	What They Have

**Author's Note:**

> Saioumota Week Day 4 - Jealousy (saioumotaweek.tumblr.com)

"Hey sidekick!" A tall, well-built boy yelled through the hallway in a boisterous voice. The target of his call snapped to attention, murky eyes softening at the sight of his friend. He took uncertain steps through the other students to stand beside him, quickly grabbed in a playful headlock by strong arms, the rough skin of his knuckles rubbed energetically against his dark hair. "Nice work!" He was talking in reference to the exam scores posted on the wall, the reason this particular hallway was so busy. A small boy, unnoticed by the towering crowd, scoffed to himself at the open display of affection. 

"Hey, stop it Momota-kun!" The victim finally managed to laugh out, wriggling against the powerful grip he'd been locked into. He quickly smoothed out his own hair, falling mostly back into place with the exception of that one tuft which always stuck up without his hat. 

Saihara had done well on their tests, but that much praise was surely overkill. Amethyst eyes continued to scan over the paper pinned to the wall. He could pick up other such praise being thrown around the halls, Akamatsu congratulating Iruma on doing so well earning a jittery response from the woman in question. In addition to the praise there was also plenty of comforting amongst the whispers. Chabashira was trying her best to cheer up Yumeno, despite having done worse, and Shirogane trying to 'comfort' Gonta who didn't seem to have been upset in the first place. Yet nothing was thrown his way, even the people he might consider the closest things to friends he had in the school were too busy with people they clearly cared more about to even say a word to him. He just continued to bitterly eye up the board, the name in first place, the top score of their class – Kokichi Ouma. 

He threw his gaze back over to Momota and Saihara, others had since joined their conversation but the two still stood closer together than anyone else. Saihara always snuck glances at Momota's face, sporting a small and unmissable smile when he did, and Momota never missed an opportunity to emphasize and celebrate Saihara's successes. He would let out a huff and stomp off, but he didn't want to be seen like that, if no one wanted to even look at him, then he wouldn't try to get their attention. Keeping his face as even as normal, he turned and left the crowd. He'd seen all he needed to see. 

It hadn't been the first time he'd regarded the pair in such a jaded way, their closeness was almost sickening. The two truly believed that they could be completely honest with each other, that they could share in each other's victories and that as long as they were together 'even the impossible, is possible', blah blah blah. However, Ouma knew better than all that, and he knew better than anyone that not even that pair were completely honest with each other, no matter how much they wanted to be. It was human nature to keep secrets after all. 

 

That night also hadn't been the first night that he'd heard the thunderous crashing of Momota falling against his door, unmistakable coughing fit breaking through the quiet evening. Their dorms were next to each other, far enough away from Saihara's that he wouldn't hear, and far enough away from anyone from their class, or anyone curious enough to look. It had almost been surprising to Ouma that Momota's sickness was a secret, he personally didn't think it was well hidden at all. 

"Dying again?" He asked with a grin plastered across his face, having opened his door to face Momota, on his knees outside his dorm, hands and chin coated in fresh, wet blood. Momota clambered to his feet hastily and ran into Ouma's room, the small boy stepping aside to let him into the bathroom, heavy coughing returning. With an almost silent sigh he gave the door a light shove, letting it fall closed itself. It wasn't the first time Momota had needed to run into his dorm, having not been able to make it to his own, either. 

"Thanks," Momota had mumbled as he left the bathroom, water dripping from his goatee, a face now completely clear of blood hung heavy with exhaustion and illness. 

"How's that new medicine?" Ouma asked casually from his position lying on his bed. 

"Not quite," magenta eyes scanned around the cluttered room, as if looking for the correct wording to finish his sentence, "kicking in yet." Ouma gave a small hum in response, not looking in Momota's direction. As honest as he wanted to be with his sidekicks, this had always been a secret to them, and the only person that did know was their resident liar. "I'm going to go sleep." 

"Nighty night," Ouma gave an exaggerated childish wave. Momota had turned to leave, his hand pausing on the handle as he remembered. 

"Oh!" Ouma finally glanced up at him, eyes meeting expectantly. "Congrats, on the scores I mean," he gave a quick thumbs up and left without hesitation. Ouma's eyes stayed trained on the door he'd left through. 

 

Classes were often boring, Ouma sometimes skipped when he felt that he'd studied enough ahead and couldn't be bothered to see everyone's stupid faces again. But most of the time he attended class, finding watching his classmates a decent way to break up his day. There were a few people in the class he got on with, even if it may not seem like it on the surface. His friendship with Iruma was a perfect example. His attention always wondered however to the ever popular Kaito Momota, always surrounded not only by his sidekicks but also whoever else was near and found themselves’ drawn into their group. 

Even when Momota was busy or away, Saihara was able to keep an audience with his own popularity now. It was easy to forget the beginning of the year, when Saihara was unable to even look at anyone, trembling if someone so much as spoke to him. Since then he'd surrounded himself with confident people like Akamatsu and Momota. Losing the hat had also been a big turning point. He would likely never be able to match Momota's confidence, but he was now comparable to that. 

His friendship with Akamatsu certainly helped at the start, but Momota had been the one to completely take him under his wing and promise to improve him. The hero, Kaito Momota. Helping all in need, whether they want it or not. He'd remembered many times Saihara waving his hands helplessly in the air, insisting that things were fine, that he didn't need help but the hero never took no for an answer. 

What he always meant though was that he needed his sidekicks to be the best because he was the one insisting that he take responsibility for their mistakes. His desire to help people sounded selfless, but in reality, it was all to make himself appear to be such a great person. He acted like he dearly cared for his sidekicks, but he was just using them, like everyone else his kindness held ulterior motives – no one ever does something for nothing. But Momota didn't notice the obvious flaw in his façade - he thinks everyone needs his help, but he doesn't need anyone else's help. Does that mean that he believes he's a better person than everyone else? 

One would think that Ouma was exactly the type of person Momota would focus on. A self-proclaimed lair, a constant trouble maker, someone who seemingly existed to make everyone else's lives slightly worse. However, Momota had already long since given up on being able to help him. He was beyond it, beyond saving, but that was obvious. While Momota was the hero, Ouma was the villain, the villain was for the hero to beat, not save. 

 

He'd spotted Momota, Saihara and Harukawa standing together near the dorms, it was beginning to get late and Ouma noticed the tallest boy’s sagging shoulders, large hands balled into fists at his sides and the faint glistening of sweat against the side of his face. Quickly planning, Ouma burst into a sudden run, a hand swatting Momota's arm roughly and yelling "you're it!" Before taking off in the direction of his dorm, around the corner from their gathering point. Once out of sight he unlocked his door and stood behind it inside his room, waiting for his inevitable guest. 

"You little!" He heard the weak growl followed by heavy footsteps rushing towards the room, murmurs from Saihara and Harukawa in the distance. The larger man flung himself into the room without missing a beat and headed straight for the bathroom, front door closing quietly blocking the sound of the coughs from the hallway. 

Finally leaving the small bathroom, panting and drying his wet face with his damp hands he turned his narrow eyes to Ouma, lying on his bed with a small game console like this was nothing unusual. 

"Thanks," he mumbled again, the small hum in response giving him DeJa'Vu. He was about to turn away and return to the pair he left when he changed his mind, turning back towards Ouma who looked up him with thinly veiled surprise and falsified annoyance at his continued presence. 

"Why are you helping me?" He finally asked, eyes glued to the small boy watching for any sort of visual clue as to the sincerity of his next words. Ouma tilted his head innocently and kept his eyes wide and doe-like. 

"Why wouldn't I help you? A friend in need is a friend indeed, right Momota-chan?" He spoke sweetly, placing the console down on his lap, game paused. 

"I didn't expect you'd really keep this whole thing a secret, y'know?" He continued, trying not to be bothered by the false words. 

"Aw, you think I'd use something like that to drive a wedge between you and your besties? Why would I do something so cruel?" He sat up, crossing his legs on the bed, moving small fists up to his chest speaking as if offended. 

"I don't know why you do any of the shit you do," he sighed, raising a hand to scratch at the back of his gel hardened hair, finally shifting his gaze knowing he won't get anything out of watching for signs of honesty. 

"Besides, if I said anything about it Saihara would probably start crying and I'd feel super bad about it," he spoke in a tone that was far too excited to be on this topic. 

"If that was true, it'd mean you actually care about another person," Momota couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice, he wasn't even really sure why he felt the need to dig into the person that was actually keeping his secret a secret, maybe he was just tired. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ouma drop his carefree smile and look at him with a completely blank expression. He wondered if what he said was out of line as he left the room. 

 

From that conversation on Ouma noticed that whenever he found himself watching Momota and Saihara, mind wandering to their relationship and the dishonesty beneath it, he would always catch Momota's eyeline. After a while it was like Momota always expected Ouma to be looking towards them, egomaniac. He probably thought that Ouma was somehow deeply invested in their relationship, or maybe he was worried that Ouma would finally spill and try to tear their relations apart. He must be really dumb to think that those he held close would abandon him over something like that, instead of support him. Maybe he's the type that would abandon someone once he discovered that they were weak and unable to be helped with sheer enthusiasm alone? 

Stranger still was the increased socialization from Momota since then, since he'd left his room with bitter words of distaste. What had changed to make him suddenly want to be so friendly? Things like thumbs up when he answered questions correctly, "how are you"s and "good job"s. The first time Momota had raised a large hand and placed it atop Ouma's dark hair he had almost flinched away from the contact, but managed to stay in control of himself enough not to. 

"What are you doing?" He couldn't keep the incredulous tone out of his voice however. In response the hand ruffled through his already messy hair with a wide toothy grin. 

"Head pat," was the simple response, as if it explained all. 

"But why?" 

"Because you're about to hang out with me and Shuichi!" He proudly proclaimed out of nowhere, removing his hand. 

"Really? Because I thought I was going to lunch," he replied seemingly unfazed again. 

"Yeah, lunch with us!" His booming voice continued, a hand encompassing Ouma's thin wrist and pulling him in the direction of the canteen where he and Saihara usually ate along with many others. Ouma wriggled aggressively, attempting to free himself unsuccessfully, instead choosing to yell doing little more than make a scene. 

"Help! I'm being kidnapped! Assault! He's going kill meeee!" The small boy cried and wailed until they finally reached the table Saihara was already sat at, attempting to avoid conversation with Iruma, thankfully she was currently more preoccupied with fussing over Kiibo. Instantly the yelling and tears stopped all at once as he sat down with a huff and a whisper of "no one even tried to help, so mean." 

"What's going on Momota-kun?" Saihara spoke slowly and unsurely, eyes glancing between Momota and Ouma. 

"He's dumping you Saihara-chan, he told me all about it, he's seeing another man, it's Shinguji-chan by the way, so now I've come to console you, give you a shoulder to cry on and all that," Ouma spoke immediately in a single breath, staring Saihara in the eyes the entire time. It would have been convincing if the story wasn't completely ridiculous. 

"He's hanging out with us now," Momota ignored the story, though didn't feel like he could look at Shinguji for a while. 

"Yeah, that was a lie, he hasn't told me anything," Ouma admitted, swinging his legs under the table. 

"I see," Saihara spoke carefully, trusting in Momota's judgement. 

Conversation that lunch came surprisingly easily, Ouma was a liar but at least it was amusing and silences never lasted long between them. Having Iruma at the table probably helped too. Though the knowing look Ouma gave Iruma made Momota think that he knew what was going on more than he had said. 

 

Over the next few days there had been very little resistance from Ouma in hanging out further with them, though no one was stupid enough to be in a position where Ouma and Harukawa were spending time together without a large group of people around. 

"You spoke to Momota-chan, didn't you?" He finally found Iruma alone near the mechanics labs and asked her what had been on his mind for days. 

"You should be thanking me for hooking you guys up!" She shouted, volume control not her forte, hands on her hips. 

"What did you actually say to him though?" 

"You better be coming up with ways to thank me already! First off you can..." 

"Stop being an ignorant pig and tell me what you said!" He interrupted her quickly, not even wanting to hear the rest of what she had to offer. It was effective as she quickly deteriorated into a quivering stuttering mess at the confrontation. 

"I-I told him t-that you wanted what h-he and Saihara had," she managed to whimper out. 

"You made that up!" 

"Don't deny that you wanted it you desperate twink!" She pointed at him, teeth bared in her shouting, fully recovered. 

"Whatever thanks," he said quickly, turning away and leaving without seeing whatever kind of lewd expression she may have made from hearing those words. Genuine to some extent? Was Momota rubbing off on him that quickly? A terrifying thought. 

 

"Hey Shuichi, you're all right with all this, yeah?" Momota kept his eyes locked on the boy he was speaking too, glad that he could tell how Saihara was feeling with his eyes unlike Ouma. They had been talking about Ouma hanging around with them now, he realized he'd never outright asked Saihara if it was okay. He didn't think the two had any big problem with each other like Harukawa, but it was still worth talking about. 

"Yeah, it's fine," was the simple response, eyes drifting away from Momota and hands wanting to reach for a brim that no longer sat atop his head. Momota noticed the small twitch in his arms signaling a nervousness, there was something up. 

"Are you sure?" His tone was serious and low, eyes still fixated on Saihara and face wrinkled with concern. Saihara shifted a little more under his focused gaze. 

"I guess I just don't really get why we're hanging out now, I mean I get that you want to help him open up to people by making friends but," he finally turned back to Momota, babbling out of anxiety, "why now?" Momota let out a deep hum of thought, of course the 'why now' was because he'd only recently been relying on Ouma to keep his secret, but he wasn't about to tell Saihara about any of that. There was one other thing he could use though. 

"I spoke to Iruma, she said that she thought he was jealous, of us I mean." 

"Jealous of us?" Saihara dropped his eyes to the ground, hands fidgeting in front of his body trying to wrap his head around what that could mean when it came to Ouma. 

"It makes sense, we do have an awesome thing going on!" He called out with a wide grin returning to his face, beaming at Saihara. 

"A-ah, yeah," he couldn't help but nod, stuttering an agreement to the somewhat embarrassing words. 

"Anyone would want a relationship like this!" There was a problem with statements like that however. 

"But we," Saihara's mouth felt dry, as if his body itself was too shy to complete the sentence, "but we're," he dragged out the last word, hoping Momota would finish it himself. He glanced up and seeing Momota's curious face made him realise he'd have to go through with it. "But we're, you know, um, seeing each other." He continued to look away from and back to Momota's face, shifting his weight between his feet waiting for a reaction, but his face didn't change. "Romantically." 

"Oh!" Momota's face brightened with understanding, despite Saihara's huff at having to say the words. "That huh? You're worried he won't be able to have the same kind of relationship that we have because we're boyfriends, right? But you were my sidekick before that too!" A hand pressed against the top of Saihara's shoulder, eyes kind. He gave a small nod, they were still really close before they'd started seeing each other so maybe it wasn't so strange. 

 

The pair ended up spending more and more time with Ouma as the days passed, until it felt like they barely even had any alone time other than when they would dip into Saihara's room. It felt like Ouma just always knew where they were, but it wasn't annoying, they never really had that much alone time before since Momota liked being surrounded by groups of friends. But now they had someone who wasn't afraid to stick to them even when they were walking around by themselves. 

Momota began to realize that he really didn't mind having the boy around. He could be confusing and sometimes frustrating to talk to, most of the time it was just fun and sometimes as people got older ‘just fun’ could be hard to find. They both found themselves joining in on various games whether it was cards, tag or hide and seek there was always a game to play. 

Momota was also glad that Ouma was beginning to get more used to him and his ways of giving his friends affection. Ouma had been obviously put off by Momota's touchy feely friendship at first, but he had starting accepting the hair ruffles and shoulder pats and nudges. But there were times when he found himself staring a little too deeply down into those clear doe eyes, or noticing the occasional dusting of pink across his cheeks at the contact, and he began to worry. Ouma was cuter than he had bargained for. Visually he was definitely cute, but that had always been part of his act – cute, adorable, defenseless, evil when really none of it was true, like everything else about him. However, spending more time with him made this cuteness much more difficult to get around, coupled with the genuine fun they were having it was really...cute. This wasn't planned. 

 

Saihara hadn't been surprised when Momota had wanted to speak with him in private. They hadn't had many private talks in a while, and while another person may have afraid that it was possible relationship ending talk, Saihara knew better. He also wasn't surprised when Momota shifted and fidgeted and started with the topic 'about Ouma'. Saihara was a detective, he'd seen the way Momota had started looking at Ouma in recent days, it was similar to how the astronaut looked at him sometimes. What Momota likely hadn't noticed however was the way Saihara had been doing the same thing. Despite the childlike behavior and constant stream of lies spending time with Ouma had made him feel good no matter what, made him feel good in a way that he usually only felt with Momota. 

"Don't worry," Saihara gave comfort before the concern was even out there. Maybe this was the result of his new-found confidence thanks to Momota, before maybe he would have waited for the statement, thought about it for a while before giving the same response, but it was unnecessary to keep him in suspense. 

"Huh?" 

"About Ouma, I get it and it's fine," he gave a reassuring smile to Momota's dumbfounded face and for a moment felt a striking sensation in his gut that fed him worries that he had misunderstood the situation, that the conversation wasn't going to be about what he thought. He tried to push those feelings down, he knew what was going on. 

"You do?" Momota asked quietly, mouth agape as he tried to understand exactly what Saihara was getting at. 

"You kind of like Ouma at the moment, right?" He hesitantly spoke, darting his eyes around a little, still not quite confident enough to lock eyes for a whole conversation, "romantically." 

"Maybe, but it doesn't mean I'll do anything or like you less or," Saihara raised a hand to stop Momota's passionate rambling. It made Saihara's chest warm that he'd stick with him regardless, but it was fine, it really was. 

"I'm not worried about that. Actually, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel that same way." Saihara couldn't help but enjoy the face Momota gave him at that moment, it was confused and pleased and unsurely upset and so many things all at once. "But I won't do anything, we're together and that won't change." Momota gave him a nod, glad that they were on the same page with all of this. 

 

Initially the plan of getting Ouma to hang out with them more was to help him be more sociable and get friendlier with the rest of the class. That result had been a failure however, in truth the only ones he was closer to was Momota and Saihara, not that anyone minded truthfully. The others in their class still only knew him as he let them know him, lies and exaggerations clouding any truth. Saihara and Momota were the only ones allowed to chip away at the veil of falsehoods at all, and even they couldn't dig too deep or push too much. Ouma was still highly guarded, but it meant a lot that they could have just moments of sincerity with him, even if they weren't completely sure which moments they were. 

"I'm actually pretty happy you guys decided you wanted to be friends with me," he said once, lying on the grass panting slightly from their last game of tag which had turned into some sort of free for all hunt where no one really knew who was 'it'. Momota was hunched over himself, hands on his knees gasping for breath, but the pain in his throat remained at bay so he knew he hadn't overexerted himself. He wondered if playing like this was actually good for his condition. Saihara meanwhile had also collapsed onto his knees in the grass by Ouma, face red and wet with sweat that he desperately attempted to wipe at with his sleeves. 

"What do you mean," gasp, "we decided to be friends with you?" Momota finally began to catch his breath, raising his face to look at Ouma, "you're the one that wanted to be friends with us!" He pointed out, raising a hand to direct a finger at him accusingly. Ouma just gave a wide carefree smile, one that the pair were not used to seeing, and pulled himself up to his feet. 

"I just said you wanted to be friends with me, I didn't say we were friends," he replied in a singsong voice, "I think we're much more," his tone suddenly dropped to a huskier tone, wide eyes narrowing almost dangerously as he approached the two exhausted boys. Then he did something neither expected. 

First, he placed a quick peck on Saihara's damp cheek, then stretched onto his tip toes and did the same to Momota before bursting into a fit of giggles at the faces the two immediately pulled. 

"You're both so sweaty and gross, I'm going to have to go wash that off!" He called out, running away from the pair quickly, distant giggling still reaching their ears. Momota was breathless but Saihara seemed to find the right words. 

"I guess he feels the same as we do," he said evenly, hand gently pressing against the spot on his cheek that had been kissed. 

"When did this happen?" Momota finally breathed, standing up straight with a deep breath. There were probably going to be a lot of problems ahead for the three of them, but they would be alright. Momota was sure of it, they all clearly felt the same way for each other and nothing was going to stop them.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Please let me know what you thought and any suggestions or criticisms in the comments!


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